And A Spoonful of Sugar
by M-lkT
Summary: She doesn't mean to interrupt class, honest! She just can't sit still or pay attention no matter how hard she tries. Hikaru's taken notice and it's bothering him. Soon, She joins the Hitachiin twins in the back of the class and to their daily trips to the host club. But who is this girl, besides the heir to Sierra de Oro Coffee Co.? (OC X Hikaru)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 : Ristretto

"Class, today we will be introducing a new student on Ouran's grounds. Her family runs the Sierra de Oro coffee brand we import for teachers and students alike!" The teacher claps his hands, a big smile on his face. He quickly pushes his glasses back up his nose.

"Please give a warm welcome to Miss Hamomoto Yori!"

The class break into excitable whispers amongst each other.

 _"Hamomoto...Yori?"_

 _"Isn't she from Central America?"_

The class hushes as the new student makes her way in. Hikaru and Kaworu look up from their their shared DS, watching the girl's movement.

"Hi! I'm Yori Hamo- Hamomoto Yori! But um, I think the teacher announced it? Sorry, I'm really excited to be here! Let's be good friends, okay?" Yori bends down to her knees. The class giggles.

The twins chuckle under their breath, "What's she doing?"

"My, how friendly!" The teacher beams, "Well, go on ahead. There's an empty seat up here-"

"Oh, um." Yori interrupts. She opens her mouth to say something, but glances at the classroom.

Everyone has their brows raised. No one was not looking at her. Yori bites her bottom lip.

"Um, sorry. It's nothing, nevermind! I'll just…" Yori squeezes past the spaces between the desks, three seats behind the front of the classroom.

The teacher clears his throat, "Now, To begin, We will be reviewing the chapter I'm sure you've all read?"

A couple students sinked down in their seats, while most open their notebooks, searching through their study notes.

Hikaru eyes the girl every once in awhile, irritated. She's constantly fidgeting in her seat, tapping her foot on the floor or tapping her pencil against her chin.

"What's wrong Hikaru?" Kaoru looks up from his notebook. It was his turn to write today's notes.

Hikaru clicked his tongue, "That Yoru girl. She's really annoying."

"How so?" Kaoru asks, going back to writing.

"Look at her," Hikaru hisses between his teeth, "She's constantly moving around. The tapping is getting on my nerves!"

"Really? Maybe it's just her own nerves or something. It's her first day here."

"Why are you apologizing for her?"

"Why are you making a big deal out of it?"

"You two in the back," The teacher interrupts. The entire class turns in their seat to look at the twins. A few were grinning, waiting for them to clown around.

"Is there a problem?"

Both boys sigh, "No, Hisato Sensei."

"I should hope not," Hisato grumbles, pushing his glasses up, "Please keep your eyes on the board."

The class sighs, disappointed in the lack of sass. Yori smiles at the boys before turning back around.

Classes go on as usual, but slower than usual. Hisato had come to Yori for answers, but she wouldn't answer any of them. Hisato scolds her after the fourth time and she shrinks in her seat.

Some students ignore it, but others laugh behind their hands.

"She's as stupid as she sounds," One girl comments.

"She's not even paying attention!" One boy whispers, looking at Yori, who has her chin in her hands, staring blankly ahead.

"Look at her, she was up and about when she got here, where's the energy now?"

The bell rings, stopping Hisato in his tracks. He looks up at the watch, then down to his wrist watch.

"Alright students, you're free to go. You and you," Hisato chooses the girl and the boy who were whispering about Yori, "You two clean the classroom today."

They both groan, mumbling under their breaths.

Everyone packs up and exits the class, Hikaru and Kaoru bee lining towards the music room.

"Welcome back," The hosts greet warmly as girls rush into the music room. All girls sit in their usual spots, chattering about themselves and being served tea and other sweets by Hunny and Mori.

"Ugh," Haruhi scowls, "We're out of coffee."

Hikaru sighs, stretching his arms up to his head. "Want me to go with you to grab another box?" He dismisses himself from the table.

"Might as well," Haruhi shrugs, sitting the coffee pot down, "I don't want to be rushing up and down the stairs for more."

They make their way down the halls and down the flight of stairs, towards the kitchen pantry.

They get a box of some of Netsle's coffee brand introduced by Haruhi when she was a first year, and Hikaru ends up hefting a bag of quality coffee beans to roast in the music room, avoiding the Sierra de Oro brand for now.

As they walk back, They spot a boy cornering a girl, broom in hand.

"I think you should make up for today and possibly the school year. You're too distracting. So is your hair. Ever think of getting a perm?" The boy comments.

"Let me go," The girl says, albeit quietly. The boy kisses his teeth.

"Why are you being such a bitch about this? It's just a little cleaning."

"Hey!" Haruhi yells, marching her way over. The boy stops and looks up.

"Haruhi, quit it!" Hikaru tries to catch up with her, "You'll get us in trouble!"

"I don't think so. Who the hell do you think you are?" Haruhi raises an accusatory finger to the boy. The boy scowls.

"Who the fuck do you think you are? I'm just talking to my friend here."

"That's a funny way of talking to your friends." Haruhi glares at the boy.

"Haruhi, back off already! You're going to get yourself hurt." Hikaru hisses, yanking the girl back by her sleeve. Haruhi shakes off his hand.

"No, are you kidding me? You damn rich people think you can just boss anyone around and not take care of any of your own responsibilities! It's just a little cleaning, right?" Haruhi puts her hand to her hips.

"Take care of it yourself."

The boy looks to Hikaru for assistance. Hikaru sighs, standing behind Haruhi and her words. The boy lets out a snarl and walks off after glaring at the girl he cornered.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Hikaru rolls his eyes, Of course it's Yuri that's made herself into an easy target.

"Yeah," The girls smiles weakly. "Thank you Miss…?"

"Fujioka. Haruhi Fujioka. You are…?" Haruhi asks, smiling sweetly.

"Yo- Hamomoto Yori." Yori bows deeply once more. Haruhi looks over at Hikaru questioningly. He shrugs.

Haruhi then moves to the side and puts Hikaru on the spotlight.

"This is Hi-"

"You're one of the twin boys in my class!" Yori interrupts suddenly. Hikaru does his best to not flinch, but still furrowed his brows at her.

"You don't pay attention either! I saw you playing with a DS!"

"Ah. So that's what you do when I'm not in the same classroom anymore." Haruhi shoots Hikaru an accusatory glare.

"Me and Kaoru take turns writing notes, you worry too much, Haruhi."

"Is he your boyfriend?" Yori asks suddenly. Hikaru blushes scarlett.

"No he's not my boyfriend!"

"I'm not a boy either. Doesn't matter what I am, truthfully."

"Oh, you do look like a boy though. It's the hair. It looks nice. I was thinking of cutting my own hair, " Yori rambles on as she reaches for a chunk of curly brown hair.

"But my hair's too curly. I don't think my father would want me to do anything with my hair, though. I don't either sometimes, but it's hard to take care of it like this. I wish I had straight hair…"

"You got her rambling," Hikaru whispers as Yori talks and talks.

"I didn't think she was a chatterbox." Haruhi whispers back.

"She fidgets a lot in class."

"Ah."

"Yeah."

"Oh, um." Yori stops mid-sentence, looking at Hikaru, "I was wondering if you had the notes? For Hisato sensei's lecture?"

"I don't."

"Oh." Yori frowns, "Yeah, I… yeah. I'm sorry for asking."

"What he means is," Haruhi punches Hikaru's arm, hard. He's careful to not yelp and to keep a straight face.

"His brother, Kaoru, has the notes. You can follow us back," Haruhi offers. Yuri looks between the two. She knocks her fist on her thigh, clearly indecisive.

"Okay, well the others are probably wondering when they're getting their cup of coffee so, we'll see you around Hamo-"

"Yeah," Yori agrees. "I'll go. Can I have some coffee?"

Hikaru mumbles about her probably having enough. Haruhi clears her throat at him.

"Sure. Are you hungry? We've got snacks too."

Yori smiles and nods, Trailing behind Hikaru and Haruhi, keeping conversation with the girl as best she could.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 : Slow Latte

"It's insanely bright in here," Yori comments as soon as the doors open, "Wow!" She exhales, eyes widening, impressed, "It's like a tea party in here! Oh, everything looks super yummy!" Yori grins, stepping in. Immediately, she bumps into a tall blonde boy.

"Oh! Geez, I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going -"

"No need to apologize, my dear, " The blonde pats her shoulders, "I don't believe I've seen you around here," Tamaki notes. Yori looks past him, taking in more sights. Girls with different colored haired sat dainty, be it in chairs at a table or at sofas, kicking their legs about. Yori attempts to look for the second Hitachiin twin.

"And who might you be, my lovely rose?" Tamaki raises her hand to his lips. She snatches her arm away, placing it against her side, ready to bow once more.

"I'm Hamomoto Yori," She says. "I'm pleased to meet you Mister…?"

"Oh - Suoh. Tamaki Suoh, at your service." Tamaki chuckles, eyeing Haruhi questioningly.

"Tamaki Suoh," Yori repeats. Before she could bow, Haruhi sticks her arm out to stop her from bowing too deeply.

"You don't need to bow so low, Hamomoto-san." Haruhi explains when Yori turns towards her questioningly.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I tried learning how, but I didn't really understand. I just know to bow to be respectful,"

Hikaru raises a brow. Kaoru soon joins when he finishes up a conversation with a couple girls he and his brother were hosting before Hikaru had left.

"What's going around here? _Oh_." Kaoru glances at Yori, "You're that girl in our class."

Yori grins, "You recognize me!"

"Who wouldn't? No one in school has curly hair like that."

"Not to mention you're one of the few people in school with brown skin."

"Ah…" Yori smiles meekly, looking at who she thinks might've been Kaoru, "I'm sorry to bother you...um…"

"Hitachiin Hikaru and Kaoru," A voice says from afar.

"Two of the three first years in our club. I believe you met Hitachiin Hikaru and Fujioka Haruhi already."

"Of course!" Yori nods, careful to bow as low as Haruhi's arm had allowed her, "I'm -"

"Hamomoto Yori," Kyoya smiles kindly, bowing in return, "Yes, I heard. Word gets out quick when a new student is enrolled in Ouran High."

"And you are?"

"Pardon me, I'm Ootori Kyoya." Kyoya bows his head politely. Yori nods her head back. Kaoru kocks his hip against Hikaru's, cocking his head into Yori's direction. Hikaru watches Yori knock her curled fist into her thigh. He tsks.

Dumb habit for a teenage girl to keep at, if you asked him.

Yori, in the middle of the conversation, trails off. She smiles and nods to Kyoya, as if he hadn't been conversing with her earlier.

"We have maids in the households who take care of us like this," she says suddenly, watching two host members wait on their ladies,

"I've got my own personal maid! She's just lovely, she's from Brazil! Her name's Miranda. Do you know anyone from South America?"

The twins watch as Kyoya goes quiet, blinking once.

 **"Even Kyoya's lost on the girl," Hikaru chuckles.**

"Not everyday you meet someone who talks a mile a minute," Kaoru comments.

"And seems to get off topic a mile a minute."

 **Yori's eyes widen when she realizes Kyoya is searching for words. She excuses herself, walking off to the window, shoulders hunched. She stands there, knocking her fist on her thigh once more, back towards the students in the room.**

Kyoya and the rest stand there, confused. The twins sigh and dismiss themselves from the group, going back to those they were hosting next before their break. Kyoya raised a brow at Haruhi, who shrugs and goes to prepare Yori her cup of coffee. Tamaki laughs it off but dismisses himself to tend to the girls he had left waiting.

"What a view, I haven't seen this part of the school yet!" Yori breathes against the glass. She watches the water ripple in the fountain, focused on how the light reflects on it.

"Hamomoto-san?" A voice calls out. Yori turns and smiles when she sees it's Haruhi.

"You said you wanted coffee?" Haruhi hands her a cup and saucer.

"...I did, didn't I?" Yori says sheepishly, taking both the cup and saucer from Haruhi, "Thank you, Miss Fujioka."

"If there's anything else I can do for you…"

"No...that should be it Miss Fujioka. I shouldn't - "

 _Clink clink_.

Oh dear, how long had that sound been going on that she was just now realizing it was all around her? She takes a careful sip of coffee, taking a step back from the window and begins walking around the room. Each sound of teacup clinking against saucers was making her brain twitch.

"Are you alright, Miss Hamomoto?" Tamaki asks as he walks past her, holding a pitcher of water, as he was requested for a drink by one of the girls.

"Oh... _Oh_!" She laughs, scratching the back of her neck. "Yes, It's just. Isn't the music room too loud? So many clink clinks. I can hear people swallowing tea and coffee. How do you think in here?"

"...right," Tamaki chuckles awkwardly, "I suppose so... but we wouldn't be very good hosts if we aren't tending to the ladies as such."

Yori hums. "I'm going to sit over there," She says suddenly, dismissing herself once again.

"Alright, Miss Ha...hm." Tamaki goes quiet as the girl leaves without another thought, walking towards the corner of the room and making herself comfortable there.

Hikaru eyes her from afar, clicking his tongue in annoyance as she opens a notebook she held in her messenger bag, taking her phone out as well. She plugs ear phones into it, listening intently as she wrote in her notebook. Her foot taps on the ground.

As the minutes passed, Yori would suddenly get up from the table, accidently scraping it against the floor without her noticing. She paced back and forth, tugging on the ends of her hair, which eventually frizzed out.

Honey, who had just gotten wind of the new girl in the room, walks to Haruhi, Mori following behind him.

"Haru-chan, is she okay? She looks like she's having trouble."

"What do you mean?" Haruhi looks up from her own group of ladies to Yori. Yori sits herself back down, a frustrated look on her face.

"She looks like she's trying to study, Maybe she doesn't understand?"

"That doesn't sound right. She's in class 1-A with the twins and me." Haruhi taps her chin with her finger, "Then again, I missed lunch and the lecture for a doctor's appointment." She whispers thoughtfully.

"Maybe she was misplaced in the class, then?" Honey shrugs.

Mori stares at Yori for a while, looking back to Honey and Haruhi.

"She looks upset. Maybe she needs a break." Honey suggests.

"A game could make her feel better." Mori offers.

"Yeah!" Honey smiles, clinging to Mori's leg, "I always feel better after playing a game! Hika-chan, Kao-chan!"

The twins looks up from their DS once more. They were currently on break and decided to keep up on playing their Pokeman game.

"Our new customer needs some cheering up!" Honey points over to where Yori sat. Her chin rested on her hands, her foot tapping against the floor once more.

"Yoro?"

"Are you going to keep changing the vowels in her name after she introduced herself six times?" Haruhi grumbles, shooting an unimpressed stare at the twins.

"She wanted to ask you for the notes," Haruhi points at Kaoru, "Since your brother," She points to Hikaru, "Was more than ready to blow her off when she needed help."

"Yeah but it's not really up to us to baby her," Kaoru purses his lips.

"She's in the club _without_ a member hosting her," Haruhi points out, "And you two aren't busy. Just play a game with her, distract her for a while. That's what your job requires you to do."

Hikaru sighs loudly and Kaoru rolls his eyes.

Yori blinks rapidly, trying to focus on the words she'd written in her notebook. She wasn't soaking up _anything_.

" _Hey Yori~_ " She hears to voices above her. She looks up to see the twins standing next to each other, grins on their faces.

"We heard you're having a tough time, so we thought you'd want to play a game with us,"

Yori puts her pencil down, looking up at the two questioningly.

"In the host club," Kaoru explains as his brother presents him with one of the iconic green messenger boy caps they wear for this game, "We have our own little game…"

"The which one is Hikaru game!" Hikaru shouts. Almost all girls raise their heads and their line of sight is on the twins instantly. A couple girls even come up to the table where Yori sat. She introduces herself to the few girls around her, a few ignoring her and a couple introducing themselves in return.

"...did you get that?" one of the twins come up to her. Yori, who was paying attention to a girl who was introducing herself, looks up sheepishly.

"Uh...yes. Yeah." She fibs. The twins look at each other shrugging.

"Ladies," Hikaru smirks to the girls around Yori, "You might want to explain the rules to our new guest. She tends to miss a lot of information."

Yori frowns, face heating up as the girls laugh around her.

"Hamomoto-chan," the girl who never finished introducing herself taps her on the shoulder, "The game isn't very hard - at least the objective isn't. You just guess who Hikaru is and you win!"

"But I don't know who is who… I don't even know them by name very well!"

"That's okay! There's still a fifty - fifty chance you'll get it right!" The girl encourages.

"That- "

"Alright Yori," The twins announce, cutting Yori off mid sentence, "Which one of us is Hikaru?"

"The… left- no, right! Uh,"

"Make a choice," The twins hum.

"I…" Yori points to the one standing on the left, "You! You're Hikaru!"

The girls go quiet, waiting for the answer. They whisper behind their hands as the twins stand up right.

"EHHH!" They shout in unison, making Yori jump in her seat. The twin on the left laughs, good-natured.

"I'm Kaoru," Kaoru grins, taking off the hat, revealing his left-parted hair. Hikaru takes off his own hat, showing his hair that parts to the right.

"Can I borrow your notes, Kaoru…?"

"Huh?"

"I forgot to ask earlier…" Yori says. The girls around her groan, not wanting to hear about school work until they were _out_ of school. They scatter immediately.

"It's...I just…" Yori wrings her hands. She sighs, placing them on her lap. Kaoru watches the girl fumble, watching her expression. It was obvious she was upset. Kaoru smiles kindly.

"...Sure," He says. Hikaru raises a brow.

"Yeah. Let me just go grab them. Did you need anything else?"

"...Can I have some coffee?" Yori looks up from her lap, "But not decaf, please?"

"Hikaru?" Kaoru turns to his twin, "Why don't you serve her some coffee while I grab the notes from my locker?"

Hikaru shrugs, "Okay. But I get to play an hour on my own on the DS."

Kaoru sighs, "Fine."


	3. Cafe Macchiato

Hikaru begrudgingly pulls out the seat in front of Yori, letting it scrape against the floor. Yori winces, But doesn't complain.

"Okay Hama-San," Hikaru sighs.

"Ha-Hama…?"

Hikaru grabs her notebook, looking through it, ignoring her. He wanted to be done as soon as he could. He flips through the pages back and forth.

"What were you doing in here?" Hikaru squints, attempting to read what she had written in notebook. Yori winces.

"My handwriting isn't the best. Never has been. Especially my I's in the western alphabet. They always look like they're on a ship." Yori shrugs.

Hikaru blinks, looking up at her.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, my I's! Well, they look like they're on a ship and they're getting sea-sick. They're leaning over."

Hikaru shakes his head, looking back to her notes.

"So, maybe you shouldn't be listening to your phone when you're studying. You're not focusing and it shows."

Yori frowns. "I'm not studying. I'm re-writing my notes."

"Oh yeah?" Hikaru parrots absentmindedly.

"Yeah. I recorded the lecture audio and saved it on my phone, I knew I was gonna need it. But I just -"

Yori starts over. "It's a new technique. I'm just rewriting it, but the audio is muffled."

"A new technique," Hikaru mumbles. Before Hikaru could ask her what she meant, Kaoru finally joined them, pushing a shiny, silver cart towards them. On it was a 3 tier stand holding bowls of fruit on the first stand, finger sandwiches on the second, cinnamon buns and danishes on the third.

"I brought snacks too," Kaoru grins, plucking up the stand and setting it on the table. He carefully sets the teacups and plates in front of Yori, Hikaru, and for himself. He places a bag of tea leaves in between his and Hikaru's plate, then serves Yori a brewed from a kettle.

"It's not your brand, but it should do fine." Kaoru teases. Yori giggles, hiding a smile behind her left hand. Hikaru rolls his eyes.

"and here," Kaoru says as he bends down to the bottom half of the cart, retrieving his notebook.

"Oh, thank you so much," Yori all but sighs in relief.

"I was just telling Hikaru about what I did to rewrite them. It took too much time and I wasn't getting anywhere with it." Yori frowns, slumping in her seat.

"Well, what do you need help in?"

"It's… it's... I just need the notes, really. I'll be fine afterwards."

Unknowingly, Yori looks up and sees the boys staring at her, one looking concerned and the other annoyed.

Her bouncing foot comes to a rest, and she notices a few girls whipping their head back to each other, whispering and giggling. Yori looks down once more, cheeks ablaze.

"You're missing a good chunk of the material we went over," Kaoru finally says. Yori lifts her head up.

"She's got messy handwriting too." Hikaru points out , "maybe stick with writing with a pencil and then rewrite your notes in pen."

"Your pen isn't very good, either. I see a lot of smear marks…"

Yori shut her eyes, tapping the tips of her fingers on top of her thighs. Now she needs a new pen and paper that won't let the ink bleed through. Yori bites her lip, lost in thought. She could get some pencils too. She hadn't used pencils in a while, not after her dad switched them out for pens after chewing through too many and sharpening their erasers ends.

"Would mechanical or wooden pencils suffice?" Yori says out loud, cutting the twins off mid sentence.

Hikaru lifts a brow at his brother. Kaoru shakes his head.

"That's not important right now, we just need to fix up your study habits, if anything."

"I have to get new stuff. Would Amozan deliver overnight?" Yori huffs. Haruhi, who was walking past, raises a questioning brow and leans in to the table.

"What's going on here? I thought you were going to let her borrow your notebook."

"We are," both twins insist, "but now she's talking about having a whole new study set up."

"You two told me I needed to clean it up,"

"Just your habits," Hikaru states at her deapan, "not anything else."

"That's what I'm saying!" Yori wrings her fists, "I'll clean up my study habits by buying new stuff that'll help me study!"

"Your stuff is just fine. You can probably just get this stuff at the convenience store later anyway."

"Oh," Yori's eyes light up, "that's right! But I'd have to put a day aside to go." She frowns. Haruhi stares at her, but then sighs and reaches into her pocket.

"Here," she says, holding her hand out. Yori takes the object from her, flipping her hand palm side up and revealing a pink pencil decorated with tiny cartoon rabbits on it.

"You can have it. I found it in the hallway and it looked cute, so I grabbed it. But if you want to clean up your study habits, start off with this pencil. It never matters what the quality of it is, as long as it writes and erases fine, you're set."

"Thank you," Yori says quietly, a tiny smile stretched on her lips. Hikaru doesn't miss it, and neither does Kaoru.

 _She's happy_

 _Over a pencil…?_

"It's not a problem…" Haruhi shrugs, "You can even buy these for 100 yen, they're not very expensive."

Yori nods. Hikaru leans over and whacks her head with the notebook.

"Hey!" She yelps. It didn't hurt, if anything her hair softened the blow

"Pay attention. We're mapping out your notebook, you need to tell us what you understood and what you didn't."

Haruhi sighs and pats Yori on the shoulder as she walks away.

"Okay. Give us a run down on today's lecture." Kaoru peers at Yori over her his own notes.

Yori frowns. She looks over at Hikaru, who's keeping a neutral expression. She lets out a breath and stands from her seat.

"From what I understood," she begins, and Kaoru makes sure to list off what she's grasped.

—

The twins and Yori finally patch up her notes in about 30 minutes time. They wouldn't let her mind stray and still hosted her while she wrote down the notes piece by was still after her second cup of coffee, but almost tuned the twins out because of her sudden hyperfocus.

She smiled and bowed at a 30 degree angle. The twins chuckle.

"She's got it," Kaoru nudges his brother.

Hikaru shrugs, a grin losing its way up to the corners of his lips.

"Thank you for letting me borrow your notes. Would…" Yori frowns and shakes her head.

"Never mind. It'd be too troublesome. I've caused enough trouble for the two of you."

Hikaru's brows furrow. She didn't ask for much except for help and it's not like the twins were heavily scheduled today. But she might've caused a bit of trouble on Kyoya's accounting end. It's nothing that can't be fixed. The girls look well tended too - at least the few that still remained. It was about time toss in the towel and call it a day anyway.

"It's nothing that can be helped." Kaoru shrugs.

"Why don't you come back some time? We'd love to spend time with you outside of class," Kaoru smirks too innocently. Hikaru elbows him in the ribs. Kaoru elbows him back and both snarl, ready for a fight. Yori takes a step back, eyes wide.

"Alright, thats enough you two," Tamaki scolds the twins, pushing himself in between them.

"No fighting," Mori grunts. Honey, who sat on his shoulders hummed the song the lyrics belonged to.

"Kaoru started it," Hikaru growls. Kaoru smiles lazily.

"There was no reason for you to. I was just suggesting for Yori to return if she enjoyed herself."

Both twins stare at her. Yori, who'd been shuffling her feet suddenly glances up.

"Oh! Well," she bites her bottom lip. "I can. If uh, i could... get tutoring out of you two."

"Tutoring," the twins deadpan.

"That's...not a bad idea," Kyoya takes out a calculator from his book bag and begins to punch in numbers.

"Oh," Yori waves her hands in front of her, "I can pay! I won't take advantage of you two, but I don't mean to be a burden I just-"

"It could improve our profit and we could manage to get replacements around the place," Kyoya pushes his glasses back up the bridge of his nose,

"We could even replace the luxury sofa with something more like French wood…"

"Hikaru, Kaoru, I suggest you two make yourselves useful gentleman for Miss Hamamoto,"

"And what, side hustle?" Hikaru scratches the side of his head.

"What about our customers?"

"I trust Miss Hamomoto will be a fine replacement for your lovely guests and will be more than happy to reward you for your time.

"Of course!" Yori nods, grin in her face.

Haruhi side glances Kyoya, Tamaki catching sight.

"Haruhi, my dear,"

Haruhi's cheeks flush and she looks up to Tamaki.

"What are you thinking, mon coeur?"

"Stop that," she clicks her tongue.

"But i'm thinking there's some scheme going on here. We don't really need to replace very much around here. The sofa is fine. Could her name be that shiny?"

Tamaki scratches under her chin. "I think while you're right, it could be something Kyoya sees beyond her name. Something just under his nose."

Tamaki and Haruhi watch as Kyoya, Kaoru, Hikaru and Yori discuss tutoring salaries, Yori never once stumbling on her words and keeping a straight face.


	4. Chapter 4

The semester rolled on slowly, and finally, at the start of November, Hisato sensei finally snaps at Yori for being unable to sit at her seat quietly. Hikaru and Kaoru stare on, both slightly flinching at the disruptive giggles for once.

Kaoru had mentioned something during the weekend at home, while lounging around in their room on a lazy Sunday.

"Don't you think it's pointless?" Hikaru begins, pocky stick hanging out his mouth like a cigarette, "to be tutoring Yori? It's like she's with us one second but we say one thing and she goes to a totally different place."

"I noticed that too. It happened her first day of school, too, remember?" Kaoru mumbles, pen in his mouth.

"But sometimes, she really gets it. She won't fucking quit raving about what's were supposed to be tutoring her on."

"It's like she needs our help one second and then she's fine on her own. I don't get it!" Hikaru sighs in frustration.

Yori looked like a kicked dog as the teacher scolded her and was later sent out of the classroom, but not before the teacher concluding that he should've sent her to the back of the room when he first had the chance.

Yori silently packed her bag, pushing her notebook and pens into her bag, before rushing out the room. Hikaru and Kaoru stare at the door that had been silently shut by Yori, before they heard a pair of shoes make their way down the other end of the hall.

The last thirty minutes of class were uneventful, Kaoru carefully taking notes for Yori to no doubt copy during their tutoring session. The students poured out the classroom and one girl was stopped by the teacher. He had said something Hikaru didn't catch, but he watched as the girl nods and waits for the students to make room at the door. She then pokes her out the door, calling out to Yori.

"Yori, sensei says you're cleaning up today."

They hear a shuffle as Yori makes her way in, the ends of her hair frizzed out from wringing it.

Hisato sensei moves past the girls, mumbling "good work today" more to the other girl than to Yori. Both the student and teacher make their way out, shutting the door behind them.

Hikaru and Kaoru watch as Yori silently picks up the chalkboard eraser, rubbing it across the print on it in slow circles. The boys watch on for a minute as she seemingly takes her time.

Hikaru clicks his tongue impatiently, "Yori, we're never getting to tutoring if you're going at this pace."

Yori flinches and she turns back, eyes wide and clearly red. Her face was swollen and her nose was flushed a dark shade of red.

"Oh, I thought you guys left. Did I forget to text you? I meant to tell you you didn't have to help me with tutoring." She said softly.

"Today?" Kaoru asks.

"Or ever?" Hikaru follows after his brother. Kaoru shoves his elbow against his brothers ribcage.

"...ever?" Yori shrugs and it sends the twins reeling. Hikaru hadn't meant it, he just wanted to press Yori's buttons further. Usually they bicker, though Yori was never very aggressive about it; in fact she was a little bit mousey. Hikaru always noted the dark red flush against her brown skin when she did say something back, either of shame or anger, he couldn't tell.

"Ever? And lose the finance Kyoya's making?" Hikaru decides to chuckle. Yori went back to erasing the chalkboard.

"I can pay for the rest of the semester if you need me to,"

Both boys stare at each other at the sudden hostile tone the girls voice took on.

"That was the deal." Yori shrugs nonchalant, angry tone still clearly there, "You know I won't go back on that. I still care about everyone's opinion. I always do." She grumbles bitterly.

"...Yori?"

Suddenly, before the twins could even see it coming, she slammed her fist into the chalkboard, knocking down a couple pieces of chalk as the board shook with the impact.

"If you're asking for money, just come out and say it! Why not just take it from me, you guys always look like you're never sorry for anything anyway!" This time, she raises her right knee, spinning in her left heel as she kicks the wall hard.

The twins admittedly, cower. They've never seen Yori in such a rage, only ever frustrated to the point of pacing and wringing her hair helplessly, and they were afraid what she would do if she was already giving herself bruises.

"Call campus security," Hikaru orders, "call Haruhi after. She's probably more of a help than we are. We might get her to calm down a little before someone comes up here."

Kaoru nods, speed walking up to the teacher's phone on the desk, waiting on Hikaru to help redirect.

"Get her to stop, She'll hit me!"

"Alright, Alright!"

Hikaru takes a breath, observing Yori, who was red faced, teary eyed, and her face set in a nasty scowl that made Hikaru gulp.

"Yori-"

"What?! What do you want, Hikaru?!" Yori sneers.

"I—" Hikaru stops, a couple feet in front of her. Her back was turned to Kaoru, so he immediately starts dialing for security.

"You're… really mad." Hikaru starts, and he knows it's not the best way to have done so, because Yori's body is shaking and her jaw is clenching and unclenching..

"We… Listen," Hikaru sighs, because he hates being so mushy. To have to be vulnerable to Yori seemed like it'd be one way to get her out of her rage, but there was no chance of it working.

"We don't mean to be so mean to you- we just. Goof like that."

Yori lets out an unimpressed groan.

"BUT!" Hikaru says, when she goes to stomp past him. He grabs her wrist as she reached out for the door knob with her free hand.

"We're sorry, okay? We shouldn't tease you like we do with everyone else. Because you're not like everybody else.

Immediately, Yori's face changes from angry to upset.

"Wh-what?" Yori's arm goes limp in Hikaru's hand.

"You- not in a bad way!" Hikaru stumbles, because how- he can't - Yori's eyes cast down and Hikaru can still feel her trembling.

She stays silent, even when the door opens and Haruhi is at the door with Tamaki.

"Hey- what?" Haruhi's haze falls on Hikaru and Yori. Yori looks like she's been crying and Hikaru looks mildly inconvenienced.

Haruhi elbows Hikaru out of the way, taking his spot and wrapping her arms around the taller girl.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Haruhi pats her back, before reaching into her school bag for a handkerchief. She hands it to Yori, who wipes her face roughly, as if it'll bring the swelling down.

"I- I just. I'm just a cry baby." Yori sighs, voice wet and trembly. Tamaki offers her a seat, pushing the teachers own chair towards her and she gladly accepts.

"Miss Yori, what's got your pink so blue?" Tamaki asks softly. Yori falls silent, wrapping a curl around her finger.

"I'm just. Stressed. I feel terrible. I think I should stay away, for a while."

Kaoru walks up to Hikaru, shrugging.

"From… school?" Haruhi asks softly.

"From you guys. I'm sorry," Yori says, as security makes their way into the classroom.

"We got a call, is someone in distress?" The woman asks. Kaoru nods over to Yori.

"The curly haired one. She's uh… not feeling well." Kaoru explains as vaguely as possible. The woman clicks her tongue as she looks around the room, to the mess Yori had made.

"Looks like someone just wanted to get out of cleaning today." She scoffs, before walking towards Yori.

"Come on, Miss. We'll have to call your parent or guardian to come get you." She motions for Yori to stand from where she's seated. Tamaki is kind enough to lend her a hand, which she hesitantly takes as she stands.

"We can clean up for her," Haruhi interrupts, "it won't be trouble at all."

Yori flinches at that and Hikaru doesn't miss it.

The security guard nods, taking Yori by the elbow.

"Let's get going, Miss." She tugs on her arm gently, nodding her head to the door. Yori doesn't look at them when she gets to the door. The security guard closes the door behind her, the four standing there silently.

"Well," Tamaki shrugs, "now that that's done and over with," He pushes the chair back to its spot, picking up the pieces of chalk that fell. Haruhi went to clean off what was left on the board silently.

"...Haruhi…"

"She wasn't going to say anything to start more trouble," She spins on her heel, jabbing a finger into Hikaru's chest. Kaoru attempts to intervene, but Hikaru shakes his head, adamant about taking on Haruhi on his own.

"So what happened, that's got her walking out of this place so embarrassed?"

"Haruhi…" Tamaki attempts to talk the girl down, but she won't budge.

"She just freaked out, okay? She got in trouble and me and Kaoru thought to stay behind so we can all walk to the club together. She was just mad!"

"For what? She wouldn't have been so upset about being scolded. What have you been telling her?"

""Bold of you to assume I did anything with that," Hikaru narrows his eyes, challenging her.

"Bold of you to assume I'd believe you." Haruhi puts her hands on her hips, accepting his challenge.

"She said to stop the tutoring, Haruhi." Kaoru finally says. Tamaki raises a brow.

"Why would she want that, I thought she needed it?"

"We don't know. We thought she meant for today, but Hikaru made a jab that just. Broke the dam."

Haruhi glares at Hikaru, who rolls his eyes.

"It was supposed to be harmless, and it's not like she gets so upset when we pick on her a little."

"...maybe she's been pretending to not be upset." Tamaki frowns. All three state up at him.

"Have you noticed," he says slowly, raising a finger to his lips, "she goes along with our requests? She'll get our coffee beans for us, she pushes in our snack carts. She waits on us like a loyal little pet. For nothing, she's not even a club member."

Haruhi frowns. "No one is asking her to do go through it either. She knows we can find someone else to do it."

Kaoru and Hikaru side eye each other, fully understanding where this was going.

xXx

"No one will ever be able to tell you apart."

Their favorite maid from childhood runs off into the night, never to be seen again.

xXx

"Which one of us is Hikaru, and which one is Kaoru?"

A girl, standing in front of them, stuttered, unable to tell the twins apart.

xXx

"It seems we haven't been doing our duties for a certain little lady." Tamaki sighs, but smiles nonetheless.

"We could go visit her during the weekend!" Tamaki suggests. The twins snap out of their haze, and smile.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Haruhi wags a finger, "she didn't invite us, first of all. Secondly, we should respect that she wants some space from us."

"Well, we do have her number," Kaoru shrugs.

"We could just drop in. I doubt she'll kick us out." Hikaru smiles knowingly, "she's actually quite the doormat."

"That enough, you two." Haruhi scowls. Tamaki wraps an arm around her shoulder, squeezing her against his side.

"I do believe we have an outing for tomorrow!" Tamaki grins. "I'll go ahead and tell the rest of the members, I'm sure they'll want in on this." Tamaki waves off the other three members and makes a beeline to the club.

"You know, when we say she's a doormat, it's not to insult her. But she kinda is." Hikaru shrugs.

"What he means is," Kaoru says when Haruhi flares at Hikaru, "Yori is almost too forgiving. She's kind of like a beagle."

"Maybe we want to apologize, right, Hikaru?"

Hikaru stays quiet, but hums in agreement.

Yori really was a sweet girl when you looked past how obnoxious she came off as; She always asked for snacks the boys would like, even when she didn't like them herself. She would bring the boys knick- knacks she would find in vending machines while she was out.

xXx

"I got you a tiger one!" Yori smiles as she hands the phone charm to Kaoru. She then turns to Hikaru, digging into her pocket and fishing the other out.

"And I got you a lion!"

Both boys raised a brow but still smiled at the cheap little charms.

"Thanks, Yori." The boys say in unison.

xXx

More than anything, she always wanted things moving, even her blooming friendship with the club members.

Hikaru felt the warmth in his cheeks set in as all three made their way out, Kaoru and Haruhi discussing their work schedule for the day.


	5. Chapter 5

It was a rather chilly Saturday morning. Almost all the club members had decided to show up, Honey carrying a duffel bag of a whole crepe cake, his cousin holding a box of tea and a tea set box under that against his chest. Kyoya keeps to himself, hands in his pockets. Tamaki and Haruhi are linked arm in arm, silent but smiling as Tamaki reaches over with his free hand to knock on the door.

A maid answers after a few seconds, opening the door halfway.

"Can I help you?" She asks softly. Tamaki smiles, introducing himself and the club. Quickly, he asks,

"Is Hamomoto-chan home? We came to see her."

Before the maid could answer, another woman steps in with a scowl.

"Who are you?" The group startle, as they can't quite place the accent the woman has, though she speaks Japanese fine.

"Uh - well, we're friends of hers—"

The woman immediately scoffs and points a finger at the blond. Haruhi is pulled away by the twins, Mori and Honey also take a step back.

"You are nothing but trouble makers, making her more upset! She has no friends!" The woman scowls, long black braid nearly whipping Tamaki in the chest when she turns to slam the door in the club member's face.

" _Para!_ " The club members whip their head, attempting to peek through the half closed door. It had to be Yori, though with an accent unheard from the club members

" _Quem são eles?_ " The woman argues with Yori. Yori opens the door and motions for the club members to step in.

" _Eles são amigos da escuela_ ," Yori smiles, patting the woman on the shoulders.

" _Não se preocupe. Eu digo-te a verdade_." Yori hugs the woman and then shooed her away, along with the other maid, who was asking the older woman questions.

"Um. Hi." Yori smiled bashfully, "sorry about that. That's just my Nana. She's a bit protective of me, but she's harmless. Actually, just last night we were baking some yummy desserts from her childhood and it was real sweet, she's very down to earth. She used to pick up strays and take them home, too. Her mother would object, but her dad would let her get away with things."

"Yori, we bought desserts." Hikaru piped up. Yori looks up to meet Hikaru's gaze.

"Uh. I told Honey you'd like crepes. Or that you do like them, so he got them. Crepe cakes, I mean."

"Smooth," Kaoru whispers. Hikaru subtly elbows him as hard as he could.

"That's nice of you, Honey! Thanks." Yori smiles as she gently takes the duffel bag.

"You're not going to change from your pyjamas first?"

"My what?" Yori looks down. She laughs at the fact that she's still in her pink, frilly nightgown, hair in a braid.

"Oh, sorry, sorry! I wasn't expecting guests, I was in my room watching television." Yori gives the duffel bag back to Honey.

"Mm. Maybe I won't send Carmen to help you out, she seems like she shook you up a bit. Sorry about that, again."

"It's fine, don't worry about it." All host members reply, Tamaki mumbling it more than not. Haruhi jabs her elbow into his arm.

"What?! I said it was fine."

"Then say it louder next time."

"Hm… I'd send the new employee but she's just now figuring things out, I don't want to stress her out too terribly… Oh! Maybe he's working today." Yori hops up the stairs, leaving the guests to watch her attempt to host.

She talks into a communicator attached to the wall and requests for a 'Kaito'. She nods her head and looks down to the hosts from the top of her spiral staircase.

"Hey, I'm so sorry I wasn't prepared, if you'd have texted me I would've done this myself. But I'm sending in Kaito, the family butler. Be nice to him!" Yori waggles her finger,  
"Especially you two, Hitachiin brothers!"

The twins startle. So she hasn't forgotten the little dispute.

"I'll make sure everyone is on their best behavior, Miss Hamomoto." Kyoya projects from the bottom of the stairs.

"Okay! I'll be down quick!" Yori waves to a man walking towards her. He looked rather young, with slicked to the side raven hair and light brown eyes. She kisses him on both cheeks, to which the club members startle at.

"...No way - do you think...?" Honey whispers to Mori.

"It safe to not make any assumptions." Mori responds quickly.

"But people don't just kiss on the cheeks like that—"

"It's a different culture in this household," Kyoya cuts Honey off as level- headed as possible, "this could be a sign of affection, but not as intimate as we think."

Hikaru and Kaoru were ready to accept it as it was. So were the rest of the club members—

Until Kaito reaches down to pat Yori on the head, even going as far as ruffling the top of her hair around.

Then, the club members are stupefied.

"You can't be serious." Hikaru all but exhales.

"I think you've got competition." Kaoru slaps Hikaru on the back, "Good luck."

"I don't like her!" Hikaru defends.

"Nobody said you did." Haruhi shrugs. Tamaki raises a brow at Hikaru.

"Do your best, I suppose. Prove to Yori you're a better man than her butler."

"Stop it," Haruhi sighs, "you're all jumping to conclusions, this has to stop."

"Hello."

The three are stopped by Kaito approaching them.

"I am Kaito, the family butler. In training." He adds in, chuckling.

"Not to worry. I know this place like the back of my hand. I actually grew up in here with Miss Yori."

Kaito then bows to the group, "Thank you for being her friends outside of the household."

"...yeah no problem." Hikaru responds first.

"You're one of the Hitachiin twins. She talks about a Hikaru a lot."

"I'm —!" Hikaru flushes. The rest of the club watches, unmotivated to attempt intervening.

"She says he's a real prick." Kaito frowns.

"The other twin, Kaoru." Hikaru finishes stupidly.

Kaito laughs. "Kaoru? She says you're much sweeter."

"Heh." The real Kaoru snickers.

"But she did mention she's a bit more tender towards you, Hikaru, " Kaito shrugs at Kaoru, "Can't really see it. No offense."

"None taken," Kaoru chuckles sinisterly at his brother, who's currently being held down by Mori And Haruhi as he fumes.

"Anywho, Miss Yori instructed me to take you to the garden."

"It's cold out," Honey pipes up. Kaito nods in understanding.

"We will have to walk into the cold, but we won't be in there for long. You seem to be in her favor,"

Kaito strifes in front of the group, motioning for them to follow, "She lets very few people in her garden. I'm one of the lucky few, and so are you all."

They step out into the cold from a side door, leading into a glass house, with flowers that are out of season and not found locally inside.

"She's letting her guard down. This is what we've all been waiting for."

"...Typical. it's another refreshment approach." Hikaru scowls, shoving his hands into his pockets harder than intended.

"We've already got a cute and innocent act, even with someone who isn't part of the host club—"

"Now Hikaru," Kyoya scolds, "I made a promise to Yori to keep you in check specifically. I suggest keeping your thoughts to yourself, lest you make a fool of yourself like summer with Arai."

"Right for the jugular," Tamaki whistles against his teeth.

"It's alright." Kaito assures, though warily. "My apologies for mistaking you for your brother; and her story isn't quite mine to share, though I did take part of it."

"What do you mean?" Honey asks, head tilting to the side.

Kaito ushers them inside Yori's botanical garden. There was a miniature waterfall installed inside, the water falling into a mock-stream, which babbled softly as it circled back to the waterfall. Though not all colors of the flowers matched, it was obvious Yori picked out these types of flowers. They were fluorescent colors, though red, orange, and yellows dominated the indoor garden.

"She spends much of her time in here," Kaito explains as he pulls out seats for everyone except Hikaru, who did it himself.

"So there's some garden furniture in here."

Kaito was silent for a while, as the host clubs made themselves comfortable, Honey and Mori insisting on passing plates and teacups. Instead, Kaito places the cake in the middle, cutting it into and even amount of triangles.

"...Yori told me about Friday." Kaito says suddenly.

"No point dwelling on the past," Hikaru attempts to brush off.

"Was she okay afterwards?" Haruhi asks.

"...she cried for a while. She was angry with herself."

"With herself?" Kaoru questions, "but she was angry with us."

"...That is true. But there's something you should know about Yori - she's extremely unkind to herself."

Kaito continues, "She couldn't forgive herself for scaring those who saw her in that state - she tends to spiral to very negative feelings that she can't handle by herself. She tends to internalize a lot of things, so you can imagine for someone who is already lonesome how much of a burden that is."

"She locked herself in her room that night, and I was worried for her."

"He's taking Tamaki's princely schtick" Hikaru grumbles. Kaoru kicks him under the table.

"I couldn't understand what you saw when I was younger. So one day I abandoned her. We were in primary school, I believe. I knew she needed me, but I didn't want to be picked on for being friends with her at that time, either. I acted selfishly and that hurt her. It hurt her terribly." Kaito brows furrow, lost in thought. The club lets new information settle in before they hear the door to the garden open and close.

"Kaito? Haruhi?" Yori calla out.

"She spoke of a Haruhi too. She says she's an angel if she's ever met one. I'm grateful for her too." Kaito chuckles softly. "She's a funny girl, that Yori."

Yori approaches them, wearing a camel coat, striped shirt, navy jeans and ankle high, grey boots. Her curls were out of the braid, and was unfortunately not as bouncy as usual.  
She was carrying a tray with a large teapot on top.

"I could've fetched that, Yori." Kaito scolds.

"It was on my way," she shrugs. "So, now that I'm here -beat it."

"Hah? This is the thanks I get for working overtime?" Kaito jokes and Yori sticks her tongue out.

Hikaru makes a disgusted noise somewhere in all the hosts laughter and chatter that didn't go unnoticed by Kaoru, who watched him silently.

Kaito goes and Yori is left standing. She places the tray holding the teapot down, wipes her hands on her jeans, and bows low just like when she first meet the host club.

"I'm so sorry about my...outburst. I shouldn't have directed my anger towards you, Hikaru and Kaoru. That's wasn't fair on the two of you."

"Haruhi and Tamaki, I'm so sorry for causing the two of you as much distress as I did on the twins. Kyoya senpai."

Kyoya, who didn't think he'd be part of the apology, let his glasses tint with the sunlight that was hitting his lens.

"I'm sorry for disrespecting you and our deal. I acted childishly and impulsively."

Yori's voice had went from calm to watery, like she was in near tears.

"Please forgive me."

Okay so let me explain I've been updating.. but on Ao3. I'm under the same name there, **except it's M_kT** instead of M-lkT bc i guess someone is out stealing my fuckin brand... anyway sorry to keep you guys on FF waiting, but if u wanna keep up with this, I'll most likely be either moving it to Ao3 or updating exclusively on Ao3. My sonic fic can also be found on there if you've been reading that also! Thank you for your interest in my fics, it means the world to my 11 year old self when I first joined here like way back when.


End file.
